Greve Successfully Defends Minnesota State Open Title With Impressive Performance at StoneRidge

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By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org


  STILLWATER, Minn. – Cruising to a five-stroke victory with a final-round 68 Sunday at StoneRidge Golf Club, Ben Greve became the first player since 1995 to successfully defend his Minnesota State Open title and the 13th player in the 100-year history of the tournament to do so.

The former University of Minnesota golfer joins fellow alumni John Harris who won the 1994 and 1995 championships, as well as Tom Lehman, who earned back-to-back victories in 1989 and 1990.

“John Harris and Tom Lehman are two of the greatest players in the state of Minnesota. As a Minnesota kid and a Gopher, to be mentioned with those two is an honor and pretty special,” Greve said Sunday.

Coming off a strong, top-10 performance at the Minnesota Golf Association State Amateur Championship at Interlachen Country Club earlier in the week, Greve posted his lowest tournament score of the season by shooting 66 Friday to take the early lead. Following that up with a 5-under par 67 during Saturday’s round, Greve entered the final 18 holes with a three-shot advantage Sunday.

“With guys like [Sammy Schmitz and Jon DuToit] playing in front of me, I didn’t think being up two or three under was going to be enough coming in,” Greve said Sunday. “I needed to be aggressive and get off to a good start and I was able to do that today.”

Pouring in three birdies over his first five holes put Greve at 14-under for the championship before he sent his approach over the green at the par-4 sixth, leading to double-bogey and trimming his lead to two.

Greve bounced back quickly, sticking his approach inside of four feet at the eighth and converted birdie before sinking a six-footer for birdie at the ninth to turn at 14-under while increasing his lead to six.

Hitting his second short of the par-5 11th green, Greve chipped to five feet and made his putt before one of his most impressive shots of the tournament. Landing his approach at the par-4 13th 15 feet behind the flag, Greve navigated the slope in the back of the green perfectly and rolled his shot inside of four feet, leading to his seventh birdie of the day and going to 16-under.

He gave back a shot at the 15th when he was unable to get up-and-down for par and would record three pars over the final three holes to earn his second straight State Open win in dominating fashion.

“I was very happy with how I controlled by ball this week—I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens and when I missed, I missed in the right spots,” Greve said. “I honestly wanted to come out today and just enjoy it and have fun. You never know how many chances you’ll get to be in this situation.”

Heavy rains washed out the second round of the 2016 championship after Greve posted a 2-under par 70 to open the championship at Bunker Hills Golf Club. But Greve came out firing on the final day, shooting 8-under par 64 to earn his second state title as an amateur. Greve’s only other victory came at the 1999 Class A championship where he won the state individual title while at Annandale High School. He was a member of the 2002 Gopher national championship team.

Dave Gumlia (1964, 1965), Gene Hansen (1961, 1962), Les Bolstad (1938, 1939), Charles Sawyer (1935, 1936) and Jimmy Johnston (1927, 1928) are all former Gophers who claimed back-to-back Minnesota State Open titles as well.

DuToit posted three birdies through eight holes Sunday to turn at 3-under for the round and heading to the final nine six shots off Greve’s lead. Rolling birdie at the 12th, DuToit moved to 10-under for the championship and would finish the day with consecutive pars to place second at 10-under 206.

For his effort, DuToit earned a paycheck of $8,500 for finishing as the top professional in the field. It’s the best finish for DuToit at the State Open since beating Clayton Rask and Schmitz in a playoff to win the 2013 event at Edinburgh USA.

“I knew Ben was going to be hard to catch, but my goal was to get to 10-under and see where that put me and put some pressure on him—obviously it wasn’t enough,” DuToit said after his round Sunday. “I played solid and drove the ball well. I had a lot of wedge opportunities and holed some nice putts. On the back it seemed like I had a bunch of 15-20-footers that I couldn’t capitalize on."

Schmitz began the final round six shots back Sunday and made a charge early to climb into contention with four birdies on his front nine to turn at 9-under for the championship, trailing Greve by five.

Carding back-to-back birdies at the 15th and 16th, Schmitz pulled within four of Greve but his hopes were dashed at the par-5 17th where he would take a double-bogey and finished the championship at 9-under 207, placing in a tie for third with professional Travis Ross.



100TH MINNESOTA STATE OPEN
STONERIDGE GOLF CLUB
STILLWATER, MINN.
7,013 YARDS, PAR 72


FINAL RESULTS
1. Ben Greve (a), Minneapolis GC, 66-67-68—201
2. Jon DuToit, Chaska TC, 69-69-68—206
T3. Sammy Schmitz (a), StoneRidge GC, 70-69-68—207
T3. Travis Ross, Minakwa GC, 69-69-69—207
T5. Justin Doeden, Legends Club, 74-69-67—210
T5. Derek Hitchner (a), Minikahda Club, 71-70-69—210
T7. Tommy Vining (a), Prairie Green GC, 67-74-70—211
T7. Casey Vangsness, Minnewaska GC, 68-68-75—211
9. Michael Christensen (a), Bunker Hills GC, 70-69-73—212
T10. Trent Peterson (a), Valleywood GC, 73-70-70—213
T10. Beau Hanson, Detroit CC, 68-73-72—213
T10. Brent Snyder, Troy Burne GC, 72-69-72—213


For complete tournament results go to: https://mnpga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/mnpga17/event/mnpga1742/contest/5/leaderboard.htm